Blood Contracts: A Fire Emblem FanFiction
by CaptainAlbertWesker
Summary: A story representation of Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn's BLOOD CONTRACTS Members of the Dawn Brigade, along with Daein soldiers, muster their defences at Castle Nox, while Ike and the Laguz Alliance fight to break their last pocket of resistance.
1. Prologue

_A story representation of the climactic battle in Castle Nox. _

In Castle Nox…

A Daein soldier runs through the courtyard, armor flashing in the afternoon sky. Panic creased the young warrior's face, and fear overtook his actions. His movements were erratic, and a wound bled profusely on his forehead, leaving drips of blood on the snowy ground beneath his armored boots.

"They're coming! The outer gate has been breached! The apostle's army is storming the castle!"

A wave of apprehension seized the remaining soldiers inside the court. Warriors gripped their weapons tightly, leather gloves stretched forcefully apart by able hands, as their helmets concealed, underneath a facade absent of emotion, the nervousness and anxiety that grasped their minds that very moment.

Sothe, green hair flickering, scowled, his handsome face constricting in a fearsome grimace.

"Here they come," was all the rogue was able to say, as he himself vanquished his trepidation by twirling a dagger, its bronze and crimson blade expertly swinging in a perfect arc.

Beside him, Lady Micaiah, the commander of the Daein forces, whispers to herself silently, words of wisdom that struggled to face the encroaching fear and panic that seized her own forces.

Her hands, gripping a heavy tome, so full of mysteries and infinite knowledge, shook, quivering, but Micaiah braced herself against this terror. She willed herself to stop the trembling hands, shivering body and the blank frightened mind, and show a feigned confidence she didn't feel.

"It all ends here…" she heard a voice proclaim. It took a heartbeat for her to recognize her own voice echoing, bouncing off the stone walls and boosting what little confidence her own soldiers had left.

Sothe, turning, looked deep into her eyes, his own golden orbs entwining and capturing the her gaze. He caressed the silver locks that trailed down her own head, and, without saying it, Micaiah sensed Sothe's unsaid words, and nodded, blushing.

_I will always protect you…_ Sothe's eyes seemed to say. The rogue's love boasted the immeasurable protection he wanted to offer her, and his anger at himself for his inability to safeguard her.

Micaiah blushed again, her cheeks turning red, as, just for a second, time seemed to stop into that perfect moment of love and protection, where war, death, sickness, strife, were nothing but fitful thoughts of a world forgotten.

The sound of the gates, groaning on their hinges, dispelled her of all her dreams, and made her focus on the world ahead. Repressing her innermost feelings, she turned and faced the inner gates leading to the courtyard.

Already, the sound of howls and roars and snarls and screeches were heard, the quiet, yet ever-present shuffle of feet outside, the scratching and the clawing at the wooden oak clear and reverberating of the crenulated walls.

Somehow, Micaiah's resolve held the men in place, and even as the wolves, the hawks and the beasts penetrated into the castle grounds, they were all determined to die, standing, with piles of dead bodies for burial mounds.


	2. The Seige

A Fire Emblem FanFiction

A cool voice, calm and collected despite the growing tension, flies swiftly throughout the air. It surpassed the lines of Daein soldiers, bouncing off the catapults and the ballistae and the mages, and into the main platform, elevated by stone walls.

"Give up now. Your death is all that awaits this cruel fate."

The haughty voice rang in the stone courtyard of Nox castle. Ike, the blue-haired devil, the vanguard of destruction, smirked, grinning like the devil that hides behind the fool hearts of the weak and the deceived.

"If you fight, you will all die," he declared in clear tones that shook the morale of the men that stood ready. Dissension crawled throughout the ranks, spreading like wildfire amongst the dry trees of fall. Murmurs and whispers of surrender disheartened the bravest of them all, and the veterans who stood far back, behinds the lines of spears and swords, of bows and lances, sighed and shook their heads, as if saying yes, and no.

Already, the howls and the snarls and jeers of the tigers, of the lions and the hawks rang. Cats with snarling fangs and golden claws, with leopards that stalked the marble floors with ease, fangs bared and sleek, cool eyes examining each and every soldier as if already, the smell of blood was present.

All of them, the _Laguz_, the sub-humans whose lives were filled with pain and deceit and suffering, all of them seemed to emerge from the broken gate as if called from the deepest recesses of hell, as if they were but devils from the dark.

The Daein soldiers, faithful to the last, stood their ground. They had not retreated, had not surrendered, but their hands shook in the face of death. Their eyes seemed to weep, as they saw not the enemy before them, but their blood-stained bodies, battered, broken upon the steps of Nox.

But then, a voice, as cool and clear as Ike's, rang in the courtyard. "We will not give a single step of ground!"

Boldly, glaring at her foe, Micaiah stepped forward, her lithe body bathed in the coolness of the wind and the bright light of the dying sun. At her voice, the animals snarled, bearing impossibly sharp teeth that seemed to consume their hope.

"We will not give up!"

Sothe, the green-haired rogue, had all but jumped from the platform, landing with an impossible grace that seemed to melt the remaining tension of the Daein Army. He dropped, and recovered, and with eyes burning, he drew his pouch a dagger, wicked and cruel.

He pointed its blade at Ike, and even though they were separated by steel, stone and flesh, Ike recoiled slightly, as if he could already feel the cold tip on his warm skin.

"We fight for the Kingdom!"

Sothe's voice rose with every word, and beside him, the Dawn Brigade members all stood, mocking their foes. Zihark, Edward, Leonardo, Jill, all of them, beside their leader, all determined to die, as they drew their weapons and rallied the soldiers.

The _Laguz_, seeing before them, not a broken foe, but a stalwart enemy, howled for their blood, and charged.

"For the Kingdom!"

The soldiers themselves seemed to cry, with a voice that rose with every man, with a spirit that was defiant to the last.

The wolves charged. Arrows flew, swords drawn, axes readied, lances held.

"For Daein!"

Steel punctured flesh and fur, drawing blood on the flawless stairs. Groans and yelps and yowls. The roar of catapults and ballistae.

"For Micaiah!"

The Dawn Brigade charged…


	3. The Battle

A Fire Emblem FanFiction

Ike recovered quickly, and without hesitation, sent his troops forward, bellowing with a lion's roar "Let's finish this fight quickly! All units, attack!"

He swung his sword towards the defenders, signaling his army to attack. His own warriors, the snarling half-humans, gladly obliged, running past him with fangs bared and claws gleaming sharply.

On the east and west sides, where the stairs led up to the catapults positioned on elevated platforms of stone, the Daein soldiers bellowed, their shouts rivaling that of the blue-haired man's cry.

The catapults let loose their loads, striking _Laguz_ left and right. Blood and gore spattered the battlefield, with the _Laguz_ whining as pebbles struck their forepaws and crushed their bones.

But still the mass of living fur charged along, dodging, and crawling along with blood and revenge in their eyes.

The soldiers stood their grounds stalwartly. Staring straight into the oncoming horde, they hooted their derision, howling as madly as the animals themselves.

A shout of "Lock shields!!" then a clatter of metal. The soldiers had locked their shields, placing them on the steps themselves and pushing, sending the tumbling.

Their swords clashed against flesh and fur, and their own armor was stained with crimson blood. Wolves and lions clawed at their foes in vain, before being swept away by their giant weapons.

Tigers jumped past the crenulated walls that defended the center passageway. Their howls alerted the Daein Lancers, and they came with speed that rivaled those of horses they were used to riding. Their javelins flew, and it ended many a foe's lives beneath the sharpened blades of the spears.

But it was not a one-sided battle. Slowly, The east side was being lost as the lions broke through the shield wall. A soldier, swiping clumsily at his foe, missed entirely and landed on the ground, where the creatures finished him off. Another fell as two clawed his neck, scratching past the leather gorget and drawing scarlet blood. Yet another fell as his enemy, a ferocious yellow tiger, lunged and knocked him to the ground, biting his neck.

The west fared no better, their ranks falling to the ferocity of the enemy. They inched back slowly, bashing heads with their giant hammers, but it was retreat nonetheless.

The individual sides, both fighting for what they believed in, struggled ferociously. Rallying cries were heard in the Daein lines, shouts of "Kill the sub-humans!" and "For our country!" echoed in the air, its hollow tone only made more empty by the groans and cries of dying soldiers as they succumbed to their wounds, or finally met their end beneath sharp claws.

"The east wall has given way!"

Micaiah, from her elevated position, turned, and saw that the position had been overrun, the men forced back by the ferocious animals. The sniper armed on the catapult, brave Michael, had already fallen, as the Light Sage saw, with golden eyes that dropped a single tear, the flash of bloody metal beneath the swarm of animals.

"Defend the walls!"

The flash of white steel told the commander all she needed to know. Taureneo, with ashen armor and silver lance in hand, lumbered through the mass of bodies, pushing soldiers away while, with precise aim, stabbing at the enemy through his massive flawless shield.

Beside him, fought another, one armed with a golden halberd that caught the sun's gleam. Aran, pallid face twisted by the blood spattered over his eyes.

Here and there, Dawn Brigade members fought with the golden armored soldier of Daein. Edward and Zihark slipped in and out of battle, weaving through the swarm of bodies with sleek swords that tore through the gray fur and the yellow mane. Nolan split through the ranks of the soldiers, heartily laughing as his axe cleaved skull and bone alike.

Leonardo, from the higher levels, sent arrows that sang through the air, before landing, hitting the enemy from above and ripping holes through their flesh. All fought with Micaiah, knowing full well where their loyalties lie.

Then, a sharp realization hit her. Everywhere she looked, there was a face she knew, one she had encountered at least once, wither they were that of a foot soldier's or that of her friends, but, scan as she might, she could not find Sothe.

It tore at her that she could not speak, that she could not whisper and hear beside her the comforting voice of the green-haired rogue she loved. It tore at her that she could not hear, through the roar of battle, her own soul telling her. Inside she bled…

But outside, she was **the** Shining Maiden of Daien. She **is** the symbol of hope for the soldiers now fighting….

"We will not lose! We cannot lose! If we lose today, everything Pelleas as done will have been in vain! In the name of King Pelleas, fight for Daein!"

Micaiah encouraged. She wanted to cry, but to do that would mean death for her soldiers. It would mean the destruction of Daein. It would mean to let Pelleas down…


End file.
